BETHAN CARTER-HEWINS is appealing for support in a life-saving fundraiser for her partner, Joshua, who faces a battle against Burkitt’s Lymphoma – a rare, aggressive form of cancer. Diagnosed in June following a transplant, Joshua’s journey has been fraught with hardships.

While intensive chemotherapy initially provided hope, a scan on Wednesday revealed devastating news: the treatment is ineffective, and the cancer has spread further. The NHS consultants have offered some alternative treatment suggestions, but, tragically, Joshua is not eligible for these options.

Desperate to explore every avenue, Bethan and Joshua have discovered two potential treatments that could help, but they come at a steep price, estimated to be at least £50,000 and potentially even more. With limited time and resources, they are now turning to the community for assistance.

Bethan writes, “We are reaching out to anyone able to help, no matter the amount. Any donation would be a lifeline in this fight, a fight we will not give up.”

Supporters can contribute to this GoFundMe to help provide Joshua with his last sliver of hope.

Join the fight. Help Joshua beat Burkitt’s Lymphoma.

RUTH COLE 74, of Pembroke, died at Withybush Hospital on May 17, 2022, after waiting several hours for a critical scan. An inquest held at County Hall in Haverfordwest on October 18, raised questions about the timeliness and adequacy of her care, with testimony from medical experts and hospital staff indicating potential failings in procedure.

The inquest heard that Mrs Cole was admitted to Withybush Hospital with a high National Early Warning Score (NEWS) of 9—a marker indicating severe illness. Despite receiving initial treatment, her score climbed to 11 within ninety minutes, showing her condition was deteriorating. According to guidelines, a critical score like this should prompt a call to the hospital’s medical emergency team within two hours. However, the inquest revealed that this protocol was not followed, with significant delays in escalating her care.

Senior emergency department nurse, Nurse Dyer, who investigated Mrs Cole’s death on behalf of the health board, told the inquest: “Mrs Cole’s condition was worsening, and she should have received more urgent attention.” She added, “The body can only endure so much when faced with persistently high NEWS scores.”

After several hours, Mrs Cole finally underwent a scan, which was subsequently sent to an external company for assessment. The scan showed she had an ascending aortic aneurysm—a life-threatening condition requiring immediate surgery. Plans were made to transfer her to Morriston Hospital for emergency treatment. Tragically, before she could be moved, Mrs Cole suffered a fatal cardiac arrest at 3:50am on May 17.

The inquest presented findings from independent experts who testified about the impact of delays in her care. Dr John Heyworth, an emergency medicine expert, explained that several of Mrs Cole’s symptoms were consistent with an ascending aortic aneurysm and that the time it took for her scan and diagnosis raised serious concerns. He stated that, had Mrs Cole reached theatre at Morriston by 3:00am, her survival rate for surgery would have been between 75-90%, with an estimated 50% chance of surviving for five years.

Another expert, Mr Lall, noted that the failure to diagnose her condition earlier and arrange a prompt transfer to a specialist facility deprived her of a potential recovery. “Had she been moved sooner, there was a realistic chance of a successful outcome,” he testified.

In his closing remarks, Pembrokeshire Coroner Paul Bennett concluded: “Ruth Susan Cole died from complications due to an untreated ascending aortic aneurysm. The delayed diagnosis and transfer likely affected her outcome. In light of expert evidence, it cannot be said that her death was an inevitable consequence of her condition.”

Since Mrs Cole’s death, Withybush Hospital has implemented procedural changes, including adjustments in staffing levels, to prevent similar incidents in future. Roy Pope, Mrs Cole’s husband, also spoke at the inquest, voicing his distress and disappointment: “She went into hospital. All the signs indicated her condition was worsening. There was no intervention. Something should have happened sooner. This day should never have happened.”

NHS performance data released on Thursday, October 23, contained more bad news for the Welsh Government.

The number of open patient pathways increased from 796,631 in July to 800,163 in August, the highest figure on record and equivalent to one in four of the Welsh population.

Two-year waits increased again for the fifth consecutive month to 24,193 in Wales.
By the end of August, the average (median) time patients waited for treatment was 23 weeks, an increase of 1.1 weeks from the previous month.

Only 49% of red calls (the most serious) received an emergency/ambulance response within eight minutes in September, a fall of 2.8 percentage points since August.

Performance against the 62-day target for patients starting cancer treatment was 56.5% in August.

As Eluned Morgan’s administration continues to struggle with the legacy of poor service delivery and failures to meet performance targets, her successor as Health Minister, Jeremy Miles, hunted for light amid the gloom.

On the same day that the Welsh Government released the performance data, Mr Miles announced £28m in extra funding to help health boards cut the longest waits.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health claimed, “This new funding will pay for more evening and weekend appointments, high-volume clinics, and regional work to target the longest waits in specialities such as orthopaedics, ophthalmology, general surgery and gynaecology.”

The money is certainly needed.

Speaking about the performance data, Mr Miles said: “Despite record levels of demand across the sector, today’s figures show some progress in both diagnostics and therapies, as well as an increase in performance against the 62-day cancer target to 56.5%.”

You know things are bad when being below two-thirds of the way to hitting a performance target is spun as good news.

Mr Miles highlighted that urgent and emergency care services were under pressure, with the second highest daily number of ‘red’ (immediately life-threatening) calls reported on record, and sustained pressure at emergency departments.

Mr Miles tried adding context to increases in ambulance response times by adding that the Ambulance Service responded to the second-highest number of people in the red category in eight minutes ever. However, there was no getting away from a decline against targets set by the Welsh Government.

Mr Miles concluded: “We recognise more work needs to be done to support people with urgent care needs in the community and to improve the timeliness of discharge home to help reduce long stays in ambulances and emergency departments.”

Meanwhile, speaking to BBC Wales, Mr Miles’s boss said she was asking for extra NHS funding in Rachel Reeves’s first budget as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The First Minister told BBC Wales Live: “I’m really keen to see an injection of money for the NHS in England because we will then get a significant amount of money that will come to Wales as a consequence of that.”

Although that’s superficially good news, regardless of how much money is allocated to the NHS in England, the Welsh Government sets its own budget from the Treasury’s block grant.

That means increases in funding for the NHS in England will not necessarily mean an identical percentage increase in funding for the NHS in Wales.

That is down to Welsh ministers and their priorities.

Opposition parties in the Senedd are likely to press the Welsh Government to spend much more on health, bearing in mind its fragile state in Wales, while cutting spending on “nice to have” projects to bolster essential public services.

Sam Rowlands MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister, was scathing about the performance data: “As NHS waiting lists continue to soar, Labour has proven itself as the party of broken promises.

“The additional cash that Baroness Morgan is pleading for will be too little too late and is a testament to Labour’s failure to prioritise the Welsh NHS. Crucially, any cash won’t be coupled with the vital reforms or long-term thinking we need to bear down on these excessive waits.

“Only the Welsh Conservatives have a plan to roll out surgical, diagnostic and care hubs to ease the pressure on hospitals and to recruit and retain healthcare workers with a tuition fee refund.”